


Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: The Dark Heroes

by Soniclink137



Category: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Action/Adventure, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Gen, Inspired by Roleplay/Roleplay Adaptation, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 18:40:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20532734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soniclink137/pseuds/Soniclink137
Summary: Several years after Dark Matter's destruction, the Pokemon world is faced with yet another crisis. Rumors abound of Pokemon suddenly going berserk and attacking others randomly, and Mythical Pokemon disappearing without warning. In the wake of this event, four Pokemon decided to get on a boat to Lively Town, and unknowingly ended up tangled deep within the events to unfold.





	Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: The Dark Heroes

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Pokemon Mystery Dungeons and Dragons](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/516908) by TheGoldCrow. 

_Based off the Roleplay Series created by TheGoldCrow_

_Written by Soniclink137_

_Revisions by MrStrouder_

_Extra Dialogue by Ed Seymour and Ren (MidniteRealmVA)_

New mysterious happenings have been occurring in the Pokémon world after a time of peace. Rumors of Pokémon going berserk and attacking innocents have been spreading like wildfire across the continents. These attacks seem to happen only at night and thus the world has had a curfew put in place as a precaution. Some believe it, while others consider it to be completely made up. So long as these attacks keep happening though, the law is not taking any chances.

Taking advantage of the confusion and chaos, artifacts are starting to be stolen from museums and various other places that hold precious treasures. Other various crimes like kidnappings and gang related activity has skyrocketed. Many Pokémon have started moving, hoping other continents will be much safer than where they are now. This has caused the Lapras Liner to be overbooked. So, most Pokémon must make the choice of waiting months on end in a potentially unsafe environment, or to take ships that were normally made to transport cargo. The port in Capin Town of the Grass Continent was no exception.

On a bright sunny day, a piplup by the name of Rayne was walking through town on his way to the docks. Rayne decided to travel because he wanted to see the various sights all around the world. His bag, which his flipper was checking through, was filled with various berries and was more than ready for the trip. He also wore a red scarf proudly with a golden “R” stitched into it.

Rayne was far ahead of schedule and decided to walk to the café to pass the time waiting for the ship. Being in a new place, Rayne had a large smile on his face as he walked through. However, the other Pokémon in town did not follow. They all looked tired, sleep deprived, almost like zombies.

Rayne arrived at the café and walked inside. He took a glance around the area to take in the sights. Inside, there were more Pokémon that looked tired, despite drinking what was probably coffee. Kangaskhan was there tending the bar while glancing at the potential new customer. A skorupi brushed past Rayne without saying anything.

Rayne waved at Kangaskhan when he saw her. She waved back. However, Rayne stood there awkwardly, not taking another step. Kangaskhan looked back and forth before shrugging at him. Rayne still didn’t move; he was completely frozen in place.

“You having anything?” Kangaskhan eventually asked.

Rayne, his face heating up, just gave Kangaskhan a curious nod before quickly walking back out of the café in a shuffle.

_That… was awkward, _Rayne thought to himself as he got several strange glances from the Pokémon around him. _I just wanted to have a look. I didn’t even think of what I’d do when I got in there. _He was not having the best time fitting in with his surroundings. Everyone was making him feel out of place.

Spotting Kecleon’s shop right next door, Rayne decided to quickly head there next to get his mind off the awkward situation he was just in. As he approached the ship, Kecleon had his back turned and was sorting through his inventory. As Kecleon didn’t hear Rayne, he decided to speak up to get the Pokémon’s attention.

“Uhm…excuse me, sir?”

Kecleon’s head lifted in shock from the sudden noise and he quickly turned around. “Oh, oh, uhh, hello there!”

“Do you have any berries for sale today?” Rayne asked.

“Oh, berries, berries...” Kecleon dug around in the back of the shop, looking through his inventory yet again. He eventually found two Oran Berries, which he showed Rayne. “I have this.”

“Great! How much are they?”

“Normally they’d be three gold each, I’ll give you both for five.”

“Oh, thank you very much, I’ll take it!”

Rayne grabbed five gold pieces from his bag and gave it to Kecleon. He then grabbed the Oran Berries and, after eyeing them like they were the most beautiful pieces of artwork he had ever seen, placed them in his bag with the rest of his berries.

“You should be careful out there,” Kecleon warned. “What are you using those for?”

“I just… really like berries,” Rayne admitted with a slight blush on his face.

“Oh, but you know what’s going on, do you?”

“Umm…” Rayne frisked his brain, but while the answer was on the tip of his tongue, he couldn’t quite get it. “Remind me again? I think I heard of it.”

“Well, some say that Pokémon in the middle of the night have been going berserk in the middle of towns. I h-heard…” Kecleon stopped for a moment. “No, I shouldn’t tell you.”

“Tell me what?” Rayne asked, curiosity on his face.

“Well…”

Kecleon still looked reluctant, but Rayne’s curiosity eventually persuaded him. So, he leaned in close and whispered. “I really shouldn’t be telling someone your age, but I heard a Pokémon died.”

“What?” Rayne asked in a hushed whisper.

“A Pokémon died!”

“Oh, wow…” Rayne felt a slight chill once he fully understood Kecleon’s words.

“Yes indeed, these violent outbreaks during night. Well, there have only been two of them here, but they’re real! That’s why you should be careful.”

“Okay. I’ll keep that in mind… Thank you.”

“You be on your way now.”

So, with two Oran Berries and that information in flipper, Rayne figured now would be the best time to walk to the docks. On his way there, though, he was stopped by a small piplup that was half Rayne’s size. He had a strap around his neck holding a cardboard tray with a sign that read: “stickz and stonez.”

“Hello there, mister! Would you like to buy adventures equipment?” the young piplup asked, his face lit up.

Rayne took a glance down the box and saw that the ‘stickz and stonez’ were just that, plain old sticks and stones. But the piplup had a sincere smile on his face and looked so innocent. In a way, Rayne saw a bit of himself when he was younger in that piplup. As such, he didn’t really have the heart to turn him down.

“How much for two sticks?” Rayne asked.

The piplup’s face lit up even more. “Two gold!”

“Okay, here you go.” Against his better judgement, Rayne payed for some sticks.

Suddenly, a phanpy came rolling out of nowhere and sent the young piplup tumbling into Rayne. They both fell over and the young piplup’s inventory fell all over the place. After they got up from the sudden interruption, the young piplup saw his sticks and stones on the ground scattered. He started sniffling, tears in his eyes.

“Hey, don’t cry!” Rayne helped the piplup pick up his inventory.

“Th-thank you,” the young piplup sniffled. He quickly ran off in a huff.

Rayne lowered his head and sighed as he saw the piplup run away with his hopes and dreams dashed.

He kept heading for the dock, still feeling bad for what had happened. Eventually, he felt a cold wind and smelt salt-water. He lifted his head up and saw a large line for Lapras Liner Travel Passes. The line was massive, and it didn’t seem like it would become smaller anytime soon.

On the other docks, there were a few ships. Rayne’s ship was called The Bruiser, so he kept his eye open for that. On the way, he saw another ship called The Unsinkable. It was a big, pristine, yacht-like ship that looked very well made. It seems like it would live up to its namesake and would safely take passengers to wherever they wanted to go. It was next to that ship where The Bruiser was docked.

In contrast to The Unsinkable, The Bruiser seemed to be a lot more shoddily made. It was big, but it appeared to be fragile, with very old materials. Rayne was hesitant at first, but The Bruiser was his ship, sink or swim. He walked up the ramp going in two the ship and, along the way, he saw two Pokémon walking up The Unsinkable.

They were a makuhita and a scraggy. They were both snickering at Rayne, as if mocking him for his choice of ship. Rayne looked away as he continued up. On the stern of the ship there were two figures standing there while a bunch of other Pokémon were working. One of the Pokémon saw him and called out to him in a loud and boisterous manner.

“OI! HEY, OVER HERE!”

Rayne nervously approached the source of the loud noise. “Uhm… hello there?”

As he got closer, he saw a tyranitar and next to him was a kecleon. The tyranitar had a big smile on his face and seemed very jovial while the kecleon was sighing as he saw Rayne approach.

“Did you call for me?” Rayne asked.

“Why yes! I am the captain of this ship! You are the last passenger?!” the captain spoke in a very thick accent that made Rayne think of something more like a mobster than the captain of a ship.

“Yeah…” Rayne answered, wondering how the captain assumed he would know that. He didn’t see anyone on the outside that seemed to be heading towards the ship, but, at the same time, that didn’t really prove anything.

“Then that is the last one! All ten of you showed up! Do you have your ticket?”

Rayne hesitantly reached into his coin purse to grab his ticket and show it to the captain. As he went in, though, Rayne noticed that he only had half his money. His ticket was still there, but Rayne frantically felt through the bag as he tried to figure out where any of that money went.

Rayne then tried looking around to see if he just happened to drop it somewhere. As his eyes went to shore, he saw that little piplup from earlier with a large grin on his face holding up a little bag of coins. Feeling satisfied with himself, the kid darted back towards town. Rayne sighed as he saw that, realizing he’d been duped.

“Ahem… do you have the ticket?” the captain eventually asked after a lengthy amount of silence.

“Yes…” Rayne answered, dejectedly showing the captain his ticket.

“Very well! I shall get my first mate to show you to your cabin!”

The captain glanced up to the crow’s nest and yelled “Pluck, Pluck, get down here! Get down here, you little vuvushka!”

From the crow’s nest flew down a murkrow. “Aye, aye, captain!”

“H-hello!” Rayne greeted nervously.

“Hello there! My name is Pluck!” Pluck greeted back.

“I’m sorry, what?” With both the strange accent that the captain and the murkrow were using, Rayne could have sworn he heard ‘Bluck.’

“My name is Pluck!”

It took a while to think until Rayne finally got it. “Oh, Pluck!”

Suddenly, a loud shout interrupted them. “NO, NO, NO! Why are you inviting so many people onto this vessel?! It was supposed to be just us!”

Despite the captain’s large size, even he seemed intimidated by the kecleon that came to complain. Rayne had heard rumors that Kecleon tended to be powerful, so he wondered if that might be the reason. It would explain that the captain was a fully evolved tyranitar and had a type advantage and was imitated by a guest on the ship that was much smaller than him.

“Well I- you know, I need to make the jingle jangle of the coin. Plus, it’s not bad, look at this little piplup! He would never hurt anyone, would you?” He turned to look at Rayne.

“N-no, I would never!” Rayne assured the kecleon.

The loudmouthed guest gave him a glare, seemingly unconvinced, before turning back to the captain. “I don’t trust any of these people! I…” the kecleon’s eyes suddenly widened. “Oh…no.” Without another word, the kecleon suddenly ran off to below deck.

To help assure Rayne, the captain put one of his claws on Rayne’s shoulder. “Just ignore him, he’s just worried about his ‘precious artifact’ going to get stolen.”

“Artifact, you say?” Rayne asked, curiosity on his face.

“Oh yes, he’s going to Lively Town to get it to… give it to… I forgot who he’s going to give it to, but he’s just… he’s just worried some people on this vessel is going to steal it, but everyone one of you is trustworthy, I am sure.”

Rayne let Pluck take him down below deck. Under the deck there were some Pokémon sitting around waiting inside a sort of tavern-like room with several tables and chairs surrounding those tables. It seemed to be well-kept, but there were a few bits of water all over the place.

Rayne saw the kecleon from before who was in front of a wooden grated door, gazing at everyone suspiciously. There was a houndour sitting at a table, wearing sunglasses. The houndour noticed Rayne, examined him for a few seconds, before turning her head back. Then he saw a sneasel that was grinning at Rayne with unblinking eyes. There was also a trapinch, who was just jittering there. Last there was this grumpig with a strange wooden cube that had some sort of cylinder sticking out of it.

Among them were three other Pokémon. The first one he noticed was a buneary that was cowering against a wall. Upon a glance, Rayne couldn’t tell whether the buneary was a boy or a girl, as their body seemed slightly shapelier than a male’s body, but they also had a blue vest that seemed slightly dustier than what Rayne could imagine any girl would be willing to wear. The buneary seemed to have a paw inside their bag and they seemed to be mumbling to themselves.

“This ship is so big, there’s water everywhere, it’s creaking…” the buneary mumbled. “Oh Lucius, what did you get yourself in to?”

_But we haven’t even set off yet… _Rayne thought to himself as he saw the sight. _It’s going to be ten days with someone like them? _He can only imagine how bad the panic will be.

Next, he saw an elekid. The elekid seemed to be well groomed and had a purple sequin scarf. He seemed to be very flamboyant and cocky just looking at him. He also had a few instruments with him. The elekid appeared to be even more of a wreck than the buneary, and he coped by creating tiny sparks.

“Oh, okay, stay calm, stay calm!”

Rayne decided it was best to avoid the elekid for now, as there was a bit too much water around for the elekid to be sending as much electricity as he was.

Finally, there was a meowth. The meowth also had purple on, but it was a bandanna that he had worn around his neck. This meowth didn’t seem to be nervous at all; in fact, he almost looked bored in comparison to the others.

After scoping out the Pokémon, Rayne continued following Pluck down into the cabins.

Within the tavern-like area, the grumping with the strange wooden box noticed Lucius and was making a beeline towards them. But before the grumpig could reach Lucius, the elekid stopped in front of him.

“Excuse me sir, excuse me!” the elekid called.

“Oh, hello there! Good day to you!”

“Ah yes, I am Henry, quite a famous performer around here,” the elekid introduced himself. “I think there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding. I was supposed to be on The Unsinkable. I don’t understand how I’m on this horrible small ship... I don’t know who to talk to about this, and the captain sounds like he is slurring and mumbling his words!”

“Then you better go on the Unsinkable, it’d be a tragedy if you were on the wrong ship!”

“Well, I did get-”

The grumpig held out his arm and spoke louder, interrupting Henry. “Oh, by the way, my name is Buckingham the Third, **Professor** Buckingham the Third, pleased to meet you, Harold!”

“Ha-ha, yes Professor Buckingham, well, it’s nice to meet you, and I have-”

Henry was once again interrupted as Professor Buckingham placed that weird object in his face and then a flash came out that suddenly blinded Henry. Henry let out a loud yell, attracting attention, as he staggered around after being caught off guard.

“Very good, I have a memory of our meeting now! You better go to the Unsinkable, dear boy!”

And then Buckingham continued his charge towards Lucius, no thoughts at all about the fact that he just blinded someone who was now screaming in agony.

Once he reached Lucius, he said, “Hello, young lady! Could you uhh…do a cute pose for me?”

Lucius looked up to him before sighing. “Oh, I’m sorry sir, but I… I think there’s a-”

“Just raise your hand or make one of those little hop signs on your chest, something like that.” As if in anticipation, Buckingham pointed the square object at Lucius.

Lucius looked like he wanted nothing to do with the situation anymore. “Sir, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m actually a guy.”

There was a silence for a few seconds as Buckingham lowered the strange box. The grumpig tilted his head and squinted his eyes, as if he couldn’t really believe that the buneary in front of him was a man. Eventually, he breathed a sigh of acceptance.

“Oh…mmm…capital.” Buckingham walked away dejectedly, while Lucius let out large sigh of relief.

Back with Rayne, he was taken down to the lower deck where there was this big open area with some cages that held supplies and luggage there. Beyond that, there was a hallway with ten doors, five on each side. Pluck ushered Rayne to the second room on the right and gave Rayne a key.

“This room’s yours. If you ever want to play a game or anything, just come to-”

Before Pluck could finish, Rayne just walked into his room and shut the door. The room was small, even for a Pokémon like Rayne. There wasn’t much, just a nest bed and a treasure chest. There was also a window to see the outside, where Rayne could see The Unsinkable leaving the harbor with those same two Pokémon still laughing in The Bruiser’s direction.

Rayne placed his bag inside the small chest before heading up to the tavern. There, he noticed that Lucius was still hiding in the corner. So, Rayne walked up to him.

“Hey, are you alright?” Rayne asked Lucius.

“Umm, yeah! I’ll be fine,” he said unconvincingly. Hearing his voice, Rayne still didn’t have a guess as to whether the buneary was a boy or girl.

“Just don’t worry about me,” Lucius continued.

“You looked pretty nervous, is all.”

“How can I not be?! I mean, just look at this place. It’s a death trap just waiting to happen.”

“Yeah, it’s a pretty scary ship, but we’ll be fine,” Rayne tried to assure him.

“I… hope so. I can’t wait to get off this and get to Lively Town.”

“Yeah, me too.”

After that talk, Rayne found his own little corner and decided to sit down there and relax. There, he looked up and noticed that the sneasel from before approached the meowth out of nowhere. The meowth took a step back from the sudden appearance.

“Uhh… can I help you, or something?” the meowth asked.

“Hi there,” the sneasel seemed to ignore the question.

“Do you need anything?” the meowth tried to ask once again, but a sudden snicker from the sneasel stopped him.

“I was just thinking,” the sneasel said creepily. “We’re going to be crew mates for the next few days. That’s what they say. Assuming we don’t get lost at sea or something, and nobody ever finds us, and we starve to death. You know, that could happen...”

The meowth gave the sneasel a look that screamed ‘are you insane or something?’ before finally speaking. “You’ve got a really imaginative mind there...”

The sneasel continued snickering. “That’s what a lot of people say, but you know, it could happen.”

The meowth tried his best to not let the sneasel get under his skin. “It could happen, or it could not. I just-”

The sneasel inched closer. “Are you afraid to die?” he asked, his wide-eyed stare ever getting larger.

“No, of course not!” The meowth said back, clearly getting uncomfortable. “Why would I ever be afraid of dying? Come on, that’s ridiculous!”

“I know right?” The sneasel’s smile grew even wider. “It’s just like a change of clothes. I can’t wait to become a ghost!”

Beads of sweat started rolling down the meowth’s face. “Uhh…”

“BOO!”

“AH!” the meowth jumped. “Th-that’s not funny!”

“Oh wait…you don’t like ghosts?” While the sneasel tilted his head as if he was confused, his smile still didn’t leave.

The meowth put his paws out in front. “No, no I mean…” He unintelligibly stuttered for a few seconds before giving up and admitting the truth. “Not really.”

“Well, everyone’s afraid of something. A lot of these people are afraid of these Pokémon going around town, killing people. I heard it happened five times already!”

“I heard it was a bunch of hogwash,” the meowth responded as he crossed his arms, attempting to roll momentum of the conversation back towards himself.

“Oh no, it’s real,” the sneasel assured him.

“There’s no such thing. Pokémon suddenly running around everywhere trying to murder people for no reason? Hard to imagine! Nothing like that could ever happen here.”

“Oh, well you do you, I’ll do me, but it does happen. You can think whatever you want.”

The meowth turned his head away, not wanting to put up with this guy. “Look, if you’ve got no business with me, you can go somewhere else. I kinda want to be by myself…”

“Well, I guess I’ll see you later, uhh…what was your name again?”

“Rodney.”

The sneasel held out his arm. “Londo. My name is Londo.”

Rodney just looked at the claw with a weird stare until Londo finally lowered his hand and walked off. Rodney just looked down, mumbling to himself. “What a weird guy.”

Henry, failing to get on The Unsinkable, decided to come back down, only wearing a costume of a gligar. Despite being quite a terrible attempt at looking like a gligar, despite everyone knowing that it walked not like how a gligar was supposed to walk, a whole lot of the passengers seem to be convinced.

Buckingham walked up to the costumed Henry and said “I thought there were only ten passengers, what are you doing here? Are you part of the crew?”

“Ah, uhh, no!” Henry spoke, trying his best to sound different. “That Henry fellow, it turned out we were on opposite boats, so I came here, and he came to the Unsinkable, that’s how it is.”

The lie was completely lost on Buckingham. “Well thank heavens, it’s good he found the right vessel to get onto and you found the right vessel, and everything is prim and proper.”

“I mean, I’m trying to get to my cousin, he already evolved into a gliscor.”

“I really like what you did with your skin, those stitches! Are those cosmetic?”

Henry backed up a little. “I’d rather not talk about them, I’m very sensitive about those stitches.”

“Oh! I apologize!” Buckingham’s face fell, and he snapped. “That’s the second time this day. Damn it…”

As Buckingham said that, though, Henry realized something. “Who’s the tenth passenger?”

However, he couldn’t get his answer before the ship suddenly started rocking. The clouds shown from the skylight above them started moving.

As Henry saw that, he said out loud, “Has Rayquaza thrust upon his wrath again?”

At those words, the trapinch whipped his head and glanced towards the ‘gligar’. By that look, Henry got the impression that the trapinch had something to do with Rayquaza.

“Uhh, sir, Mr. Trapinch sir!” He called. The trapinch let out a sudden frightful shriek. “Do you have something to do with Rayquaza?”

“No…no, who said something about Rayquaza, except for you?” the trapinch nervously answered. He was glancing around, trying to find some way to escape the conversation. “I have nothing to do with Rayquaza, nothing!”

“That seems rather suspicious...”

The trapinch’s eyes widened and he scurried away as fast as his little legs could carry him. Before Henry could follow behind him to press for more information, the crew came below deck, whistling and smiling. With the crew down, Lucius glanced at them, eventually settling his eyes on a scyther. So, Lucius walked up to him.

“Excuse me, sir.” he said as he approached the scyther. “This ship seems to be really rickety and rolling a lot, and there’s water everywhere. Are we going to be alright?”

The scyther opened his eyes, the picture of calm. Lucius felt slightly safe upon seeing his strong determination. And then the scyther opened his mouth.

“I don’t know if we will be safe on this ship. Fate can never be determined!”

Lucius took a step back. “Okay? But are you-”

“But I am here to protect you, and everyone on this ship!” The scyther then did a sort of dab with his blades. “So, little buneary, if you ever need help, just come to me, and I will protect you.” Upon saying that, the scyther started rubbing his blades together.

“Alright then...” And with that ‘reassurance,’ Lucius immediately went back to his corner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As part of the deal to ride the ship for the next ten days until they reach Lively Town, each of the passengers were given various tasks that they had to perform to help with the rest of the crew. On the first day, Henry was to help scope out, Lucius was asked to help cook, Rayne was sent to train with the scyther, and Rodney was asked to help mop the deck.

On the crow’s nest, Henry had discarded his disguise as “Hank” and ascended the crow’s nest to meet with Pluck. Henry was not very happy so high up. He barely made the climb itself, and he was shaking upon reaching the top. Pluck, who was already on lookout, just turned back to him nonplussed.

“You actually got the easy job. Not gonna do much up here.”

Henry let out another wail before nervously saying, “Okay.”

“But…you know, we could pass the time with a little entertainment,” Pluck stated with glint in his eye.

“Entertainment, yes.” _Anything to get my mind off… oh my, how high up I am._

Pluck dug in his nest and he pulled out a coin. He tried speaking with the coin in his beak before realizing he couldn’t and spat it out onto the floor. After the coin plinked onto the crow’s nest, he spoke again.

“This is my lucky coin.”

“Your lucky coin...” Henry mumbled; his eyes focused on it. It seemed to be just a regular gold piece, as far as he could tell. “What are we going to do, regarding this lucky coin?”

“Well, when I use this coin, I seem to always win, that’s why I like to do wagers with it.”

“Oh, do wagers you say?” Henry smiled and laughed a bit. “Sounds like my kind of game.”

“What do we say we do a little wager? I’ll give you something rare if you win the coin toss and you give me something rare if you lose.” Pluck’s demeanor was confident, as if he had never lost before.

“Well, I guess I will be heads, then, if this is going.” He was overly excited about the gamble that he nearly forgot about his wager. “Oh! I’m putting up a very interesting thing here. You see, I’m giving up a lyre. I have three instruments; I use my lyre the most. I treasure it very much, but I’m feeling very lucky today.” He put the lyre down with a smug look on his face.

“Okay, if you win, I will give you…” Pluck dug around in his nest a bit, where Henry noticed a decent amount of random treasures and knickknacks. Eventually, he pulled out a wand, which he spat out in front of Henry. “This is a Wand of Opening. It’ll open any door, any treasure chest, just by tapping on it. But it’ll break upon using it. It has two charges on it. If you like, I can show you a test run just to prove it can do it.”

“Oh, no, I’m okay with taking your word for it.”

Pluck tossed the coin up into the air, before it hit the ground and bounced a few times. It seemed to keep the tension just long enough to keep them guessing about how it was going to land. Finally, the coined settled down and came to. Much to Pluck’s surprise, the lucky coin landed on heads. His beak hung open. Eventually, he turned to Henry with a wide-eyed stare.

“Uhm… double or nothing! I’ll uhh… I’ll give you…” Pluck frantically dug through his nest looking for something else. “Ah, here we go, this is something you might like, a Wand of Healing. Does exactly as advertised!”

Feeling confident from his previous victory, Henry smirked. “Yes, yes, another flip.”

In this best of two competition, Pluck managed to get a tails, in his favor. That left one more flip. The coin spun in the air and bounced on the ground before rolling around and settling down. Almost unbelievably, the coin ended up on heads!

Two points for Henry, only one for Pluck, leading Henry to win both the Wand of Opening and the Wand of Healing. Pluck looked dejected and didn’t bother fighting against this one. Henry’s luck appeared to be just that much greater.

Pluck just looked away from Henry and refused to open his mouth.

“Ah, what’s the matter?” Henry gloated.

“Just keep lookout.” Pluck growled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rayne was taken down below deck to this room that had a bunch of wooden planks sticking out of the floor. There, Apae, the scyther who did a great job assuring Lucius that everything would be fine, was standing with his back turned towards Rayne. Rayne stepped forward to try and get his attention but stopped as soon as Apae spoke.

“So… you’ve come to my dojo.”

Rayne tilted his head. “Uhh, yeah, I was told to come to-”

Apae turned around to face him and interrupted. “You’ve come to train with me!”

“I… guess I…” Rayne was taken aback by this seemingly superhero-like attitude.

“Together, as my sidekick, we will decimate any enemy who comes at us! Not that it will happen, but we will be ready! Is that right, sidekick?”

Rayne paused for a moment, before giving the best response he could. “Sure?”

“Okay! Let us begin!”

Apae walked to the front where there were three mats laid out. “Get ready… what was your name again?”

“R-rayne.”

Apae stared at him contemplatively. “No, that can’t be Rayne. It should be… Rayne the Dark Hero! That shall be your new name!”

“Just Rayne is fine.” Rayne mumbled.

“Rayne the Dark Hero is your name!”

_Remind me why am I here again? _Rayne asked himself, though admittedly, the question was very rhetorical.

“Prepare yourself!” Apae rubbed his scythes together and began doing a few poses. “Secret technique: Substitute!” And on the three mats, three substitute dolls appeared.

“Five strikes! Three Substitutes! Go!”

“Sorry, what?” Rayne asked.

“I believe I made myself quite clear! Now go!”

Rayne still wasn’t sure what exactly Apae wanted, but he guessed it was just to train on the Substitute dolls. Rayne walked up to one of them, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then, without too much thought into it, he opened his eyes with a confident look and stuck at it as hard as he could.

The Substitute doll bursts into smithereens, pieces flying all over the place as if they were catapulted into the air. Apae looked incredibly impressed at this. “That’s it, Dark Hero! Strike them down with all your might! Hit them with absolute courage!” He was making dramatic superhero poses and appeared to be overly enthusiastic.

Next, he jumped up into the air and did a flip, he comes down with an attempt to strike another Substitute with a jump kick, but he misses it and strikes the floor instead. Not appearing to be fazed, he quickly turns towards the still standing doll and gives it a good spin kick. It knocks the Substitute into the air. Rayne leans his head back slowly, before moving forward quickly to try and headbutt it to the ground. He wasn’t aware of the distance though and completely missed, instead his head slamming on the floor.

The green doll lands on the floor, with Rayne slowly getting up and feeling a bit dizzy.

Apae tries to give support. “Really? Hone your dark might! Gather it from within! Put in your strength and give it no mercy!” He was not doing any poses, rather he looked more serious with his words.

Rayne shakes his head and gets back into focus, and karate chops the downed punching bag. It splits cleanly into two. One more doll was left, and he was down to his last strike.

“Only one more! Give everything you have at it! You can do this, Dark Hero!” Apae yelled at the top of his voice before letting off a powerful cry. This vote of confidence was loud and clear on Rayne, as he begins to blast ice out of his mouth in a powerful flurry. It pelts the final doll until it is completely frozen.

Rayne clapped, and the substitute spontaneously shatters into pieces. Nothing remained of it except for patches of ice on the floor.

Upon destroying the last doll, Apae let out an enthusiastic sigh and said, “Very good, Dark Hero Rayne. We shall fight together if the ship ever needs us!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Down within the kitchen, Lucius was tasked with helping Auto, a munchlax, with the cooking. Of course, Lucius was given the cutest little apron to wear, which made him sigh just looking at it. _More people confusing me for a girl…_ he thought. _Then again, I should be expecting this by now…_

It got him to wonder whether he was being sent down here because they thought he was a girl and would be good at cooking. Lucius found that to be a very illogical assumption. Cooking, like all skills, takes a lot of time and practice to correctly, no matter who it is. As far as Lucius is aware, he doesn’t know anyone, not even himself, who could cook.

He recalled the time that someone he knew, Scala, gave it a shot._ The first time she cooked, she created an inedible blob monster that the younger kids thought was some new species of Pokémon… man, she never heard the end of it!_

Lucius felt a sigh reach his lips as he thought back to his only friend. It had only been a few days, but he missed her already. What was she doing right now? Probably helping somebody out with a million different chores before she collapsed from exhaustion. Despite that, she’d be still ready to help someone out the next day.

He could feel a pit in his heart as he thought back to her unwavering kindness and enthusiasm, something he had hardly ever received.

Auto’s voice eventually cut into Lucius’s thoughts, turning his attention back to the current moment. “So, you’re the one with me?”

“Yes, I am, sir,” Lucius answered.

“Yeah…” Auto sighed, he looked bored. “Well, you see, what do you think about cooking? Be honest. What do you think about food?”

A strange question, but Lucius answered anyways. “Well, I really like to eat. I really like sweet food. And I like anything that will make me healthy.”

“Yeah, it’s really an art. Some people like sweet food, some people like it spicy. The thing is, when you make food, you tend to get really bored with it. D’you know what I mean? It’s like any artist. Cooking is an art.”

“I haven’t done too much cooking before, so forgive me for not really understanding…”

“Well, you’re going to be doing some cooking. You see, I don’t really want to make the cooking today. I want to have someone else’s cooking. Eating, to me, is boring… I know, sounds strange, munchlax’s are known for their eating. But I’m just not feeling it. I can’t eat my own cooking because it’s tasteless to me.”

Auto looked around his kitchen. “So, what I want you to make is…a berry stew. Yeah, sounds good. And when you are aboard this ship, you are expected to take orders and make them immediately with the best of your abilities. So, I’m going to list out the ingredients, you ready?”

Lucius raised a paw, but Auto spoke before he was able to get a word in.

“It doesn’t matter. You need: four Pinip Berries, two Tomato Berries, One Pomeg Berry, two Hondew Berries. You put the Tomato Berries and the Pomeg Berries together in the boiling water and stir it. Then you take the boiling water off the heat source, pour the rest of the berries in, and cover it. Got it?”

Lucius once again raised his paw, but Auto spoke before Lucius could say anything.

“Okay. Bye. Have fun.”

“But sir...!” Lucius said, but he was only able to say anything because Auto just left. He couldn’t remember anything that the munchlax said to him.

Lucius was feeling nervous, but he tried to stay as calm as possible. To his right was the larder, so he walked over there to try and figure out something to make, since he sure as heck wasn’t making what Auto wanted him to. There he went through the larder until he found the berries. Unfortunately, they weren’t labeled.

_Ooooh crap. Oh, crap! I did some research on different berries, I know I did. I wanted to be sure to know which is good to eat and which isn’t! _He wished he was able to tell the kind of berry just by looking at it.

Since Lucius had no idea which berries were which, he decided to taste each one. The first berry he tasted was unbelievably spicy, forcing him to spit it out and take a swing of water. The second berry he tasted was pleasing, since it was actually very sweet. Lucius remembered this berry as a Hondew berry just from its taste. So, he decided to half a box of those berries together in the boiling water.

Lucius mixed the pot for a few minutes before waiting until it boils again. Once he saw that, Lucius took the stew off the boiling pot and waited for it to cool down. Once he thought it was cool enough, Lucius decided to taste test it. The pot tasted rather sweet, just how Lucius liked his food. He licked his lips and felt proud for a job well done. This was probably the best thing he ever cooked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rodney spent his time swabbing the deck. It didn’t take him too long and he did a decent job. Just as he finished, Professor Buckingham the Third approached him, clearly needing his help for something just by the look on his face.

“Good day to you!” Buckingham said.

“Hello sir. Can I help you?” Rodney asked.

“Well, I couldn’t help but notice you did a fantastic job on this deck here.”

Rodney rolled his eyes. “Gee, thanks, first time I get complemented for anything.”

“Well… you’re very fast on your feet and quick with your fingers.”

“I kinda have to be,” Rodney shrugged.

“Could you join me in my room for a moment? I have some pressing matters that I would like to discuss to you and it’s …something that requires someone of your talents. It is not good to be speaking of this in public.”

“What are you talking about?” Rodney said with a confused look.

“It’s uhh… a problem I encountered when I boarded this ship, and I don’t think I can trust anyone to do this but you. Can we talk about this in my room or your room or somewhere where we can speak about this hush hush?”

Rodney shrugged. “Don’t mind. You seem trustworthy enough.”

The two began making their way towards the cabins. Rayne took notice of what was happening and didn’t see anyone going after them. He snuck on by quite easily, being basically unnoticeable. Lucius noticed Buckingham and Rodney pass by but didn’t take much note of them. Rodney did notice that they were being followed but ignored it and continued with the professor.

As they reached the cabins, Buckingham asked “Do you want to go to my room or your room?”

“It really doesn’t matter; I prefer my room…”

Buckingham nodded and they both went into Rodney’s room, closing the door behind them. Rayne saw that happening and decided to put an ear towards the door to eavesdrop on the conversation.

“Okay, this is a very serious matter,” Buckingham said.

“Alright, calm down professor.” Rodney said, his eyes still rolling.

“You see, when I boarded this ship, did you see that Kecleon fellow guarding that door?”

“Yeah. I didn’t pay no mind to him, but yeah.”

“Well, the word is, he’s transferring a very priceless artifact to Lively Town.”

Rodney’s eyes widened at that. “Priceless artifact?”

“Yes, priceless artifact. I could actually show it to you, that’s why I need your help.”

“Oh boy. Tell me more…” Rodney said as he leaned in.

“You see, the Kecleon was gone for a brief time. …I bet you’re wondering what this contraption around my neck is.”

“Contraption?” Rodney’s eyes wandered to the box on Buckingham’s neck, wondering what it had to do with the artifact. “You mean that weird looking box thing?”

“Yes, it’s called a Pictograph my boy. Have you ever wanted to take a treasure you’ve seen somewhere but you’re not allowed to with that pesky law in the way…? You go to jail if you stay, all that poppycock? Or how about going to a location and preserving that memory for all time! Well, that’s what this device does, Reginald!”

“It’s Rodney, actually.”

“Oh yes. But that’s what it does! It captures images and you can put them in your pocket! I have one on me right now, as a matter of fact!”

Buckingham glanced around and looked out the window before taking a card from his bag and giving it to Rodney. It depicted an environment where was this large rainbow with three other circular rainbows at various points in the arch. Behind all that was this icy mountain. Buckingham was in front of it waving.

“This is from the Mist Continent! That is the Rainbows of Hope!”

“The Rainbows of Hope…” Rodney repeated. He couldn’t take his eyes of the picture; it was a thing of beauty.

“Yes, it’s a phenomenon that is in my pocket and can take it wherever I go. What if you were fighting the legendary Zapados, but nobody believed you? With this thing, you have proof! But that’s beside the point. When the Kecleon was gone, I was a little naughty and took the cover off and took a picture of his priceless artifact. I set down one of the pictos and it disappeared. All of them. All my precious memories gone! Someone took them, and I think I know who.”

“Who exactly do you think is the criminal here?”

“Well, did you see that Sneasel fellow?”

“Oh, you mean that weird guy I was talking to earlier?”

“Precisely, Reginald!”

Rodney rolled his eyes wanted to correct him once again. But he didn’t think it would make a difference.

“He saw me take the picto and I think he’s the one who took them when I set them down.”

“Do you think he’s up to something?”

“Well, I think he’s took my pictos, and I want them back. But I don’t want to cause any alarm among the crew, because if they start suspecting him, he might just throw the pictos away, and they’ll be gone forever! You know what I mean? What I need you to do is, later we’re going to have dinner. I need you to leave the dinner table and go into his room and find the pictos for me. Don’t steal anything! We’re stealing back something that belongs for me!”

Rodney waved his arms. “Oh no! I would never break the law sir, even if it was for something shiny.”

“Will you help me get my pictos back? What I have for you is that you can have my pictograph! I have two of them! If you get my pictos back, I’ll give one of them to you. And you can do exactly what I do. Take a picture of anything you want!”

Rodney nodded. “Sounds like a done deal.”

“Alright, during dinner I will try to cause a distraction, drag it out for as long as you can. His room is right across from yours, first one on the right! So, do we have a deal, Reginald?”

“Sure thing, Professor.”

Rayne figured out that the conversation was about to end, so he decided to quickly head towards his room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With all the chores being done, everyone convened within the dining hall. All the seats were filled except for three of them. Two of them belonged to Auto and Lucius, who were bringing out the meal, but the third remained conspicuously absent of any passenger.

With everyone seated, Captain Oliver shouted “Auto, bring out the feast!”

Lucius and Auto brought out the dinner while all the crew kept shouting for their food. Auto glanced at Lucius and nodded as if to ask if Lucius did a good job. Lucius was feeling confident in his cooking, so he smiled and nodded back. Auto brought out a ladle and filled up everyone’s bowls while Lucius sat down.

While they were doing that, Buckingham caught Rodney’s eye and nodded. Rodney nodded back.

With all the food laid out, everyone looked at their food. Despite being promised stew, what they instead got was this rainbow paste sort of thing that seemed like wet sugar. 

“What is this called?” Oliver asked. Auto turned to face Lucius.

“Uhh…” Lucius paused for a moment, not really having a name in mind. “I call it… Sweet Surprise.”

Half the crew ate it like it was chewing gum with a grimace on their face. But the other half seemed to enjoy it decently enough. Seeing this, Lucius just breathed a sigh of relief, figuring that the people who didn’t like it just don’t like sweet things.

The captain then asked for entertainment, and Henry began playing his lute for the passengers and crew. Lucius got lost within the melody and had a smile on his face. Everyone else appeared to be enjoying the finely done performance.

While the music was playing, Buckingham nodded towards Rodney before nodding towards the door. Rodney realized what was happening soon and snuck his way out. Rayne noticed that this was happening and followed him out, too. Nobody else noticed them leave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With the welcomed distraction created by Henry, Rodney and Rayne were both able to leave without any difficulty. Rodney went off towards the cabins, specifically the first one on the right that Buckingham told him about. The door was locked, so Rodney pulled out his toolkit to start picking the lock.

Rodney easily caught the tumblers and managed to unlock it. However, before he was able to open the door, Rayne walked up to him. Rodney was so focused on the door that he didn’t even notice anything.

As soon as Rayne got close, he asked in a particularly cheerful voice, “Hey, what’cha doing?”

Rodney jumped a bit as he frantically turned around to face Rayne. “Wha what, hey! What on earth are you doing here?”

“Rodney, right?” Rayne asked.

“How would you know that?”

“I… overheard people saying your name?”

Rodney didn’t buy it for a second, he gave a small smile and just shook his head. “You don’t need to tell me; I saw sneaking around. You were listening to our conversation, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, I was.” Rayne still had a smile on his beak. “So, pictos, huh?”

“Yeah. They’re these very priceless cards that the professor wants me to get back to him. And, well, I should be doing this without you screwing around. So, can you let me do my own thing? I won’t be long.”

“Sure. I can keep watch if you want me to.”

“Just go hide somewhere and make sure I’m not compromised, alright!”

After saying that, Rodney opened up Londo’s door and walked inside. On the outset, he noticed the same basic layout as his own room, with a bed, a chest, and a window. Rodney walked to the chest and opened it. Rodney saw all Londo’s belongings. There was a gold spike, some berries, but there wasn’t any pictos. However, as Rodney looked down, he noticed a piece of paper underneath the chest. Rodney grabbed out the paper and found all of Buckingham’s photos.

The photo on top, Rodney noticed as he was lifting them up, seemed to be quite recent. It was a photo of Buckingham doing a selfie in front of the ship. As he looked at the picture, he saw the crew working on the deck. There was also the captain on the deck on the wheel. However, within one of the windows of the ship, there appeared to be another captain Oliver. It was hard to make out, but there was no denying it.

“What in the world is this?” Rodney questioned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eventually, Henry and Lucius both noticed that Rayne and Rodney were nowhere to be seen. To Henry, he resigned himself to accept that he probably just lost some of the crowd. Lucius however found this slightly curious, so he decided to check if they were in the hall or something.

However, as he was going towards the door, Professor Buckingham stood in front of him.

“Oh no, no, young lady, you shouldn’t, enjoy the music! Enjoy it capital!” he quickly stammered out.

Buckingham put his arm around Lucius and attempted to lead him back to the table. But his grip wasn’t very strong, and Lucius was able to get out easily. Lucius was convinced something strange was happening and ignored Buckingham’s continued protests as he left the dining hall.

Out in the hallway, Lucius saw nothing. He decided to try and find Rayne and Rodney. Figuring that the cabins would be a good first place to look, Lucius went down there.

Back downstairs, Rodney was at the doorway looking at the picture when he decided to leave. Rayne was keeping an eye on the stairs and he heard a loud slam behind him. Rodney payed no mind to that as he left.

“Alright, I got the pictures. Now I gotta bring it back to the professor,” Rodney whispered.

“Alright. Cool, but what was that?” Rayne whispered back.

“What, the pictures?”

“No, the door!” Rodney looked back just to confirm what Rayne said. Londo’s door was still open, but he did indeed hear a door shut loudly.

“I have no idea and I’m not in the mood to find out. Let’s just go back up to the dinner and join the others. You never saw this. Understand?”

“Uhh…o-okay?”

“I said, ‘do you understand?’”

“Okay! Alright!”

“Good. Glad to know you have my back.”

Rodney walked his way back upstairs but was stopped before he could make it. Lucius had just spotted them, and he saw Rodney holding a bunch of cards. He couldn’t figure out exactly what those cards were. The first door to the right was still open, with Rayne standing there. Since Rodney was closer, Lucius walked up to him.

“Hey, I noticed you left the dining hall, what’s going on here?” he asked.

“What do you mean? Am I not allowed to leave the room?” Rodney countered.

“No, that’s not what I meant. You are allowed to leave the room, however, when you also leave someone to keep people in the room, it’s very suspicious.” Lucius paused for a moment, feeling slightly guilty for the accusation of someone he barely knew. “I don’t mean to offend you or anything, I’m just wondering what’s going on here. It seems very dodgy. Like, some of the crew might start talking about you.”

“Look, it’s nothing bad, I was just getting something for the professor here.” Rodney said. “That’s all it is.”

Lucius didn’t know what to make of this, but not wanting to accuse Rodney of anything else, decided to accept that explanation. He also didn’t know what the strange cards were either.

“Are those strange card things the thing you’re giving the professor?” Lucius asked.

“Yeah, of course.” Rodney answered.

Lucius decided to just shrug it off as a misunderstanding. “Okay, it’s just a bit odd, but I suppose you don’t seem like you’re doing anything suspicious.”

“Umm, right,” Rodney said. “Can I move along now? I really have to give this back.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Thanks.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rodney, Rayne, and Lucius all walked back up to the tavern area, heading their way to the dining hall. Before they could get there, though, they suddenly heard a loud piercing scream coming from above deck. It was the sound of Pluck.

“Captain, captain, alert, alert!”

The sound of Pokémon starting to run was heard throughout the ship. Almost everyone on the ship went up towards the deck, Rayne, Rodney, Henry, and Lucius all following closely behind. Once they got up there, they saw a large crowd hovered on the edge of the boat, their gaze on something in the water. Pluck was also pointing in that direction. The captain was there, his eyes wide at whatever he was seeing.

It was difficult to really see what they were all looking at, so Lucius pushed and shoved his way through the crowd to see it. Once he got there and saw the same scene that everyone else was looking at, his mouth dropped open and he felt a sudden chill creep across his entire body.

There was a bunch of wooden debris scattered on the ocean surface. And on one piece of debris, there was a name written clearly for all eyes to see. That single word being the very reason Lucius started to feel very sick. Written on that wood, was: 

_THE UNSINKABLE_

And soon after reading that, all the debris sank to the ocean floor.


End file.
